Background
This series covers a recent TATL trip. I needed to reposition from Lyon to Barcelona, which is not as easy as one would think since there were only 3 direct options on the day of travel:
VY also has a lot less permutations on packages which is nice for the non-regular customer, and so much less annoying than having to click through 5-8 pages of add-ons on the FR/U2 websites to get to the payment screen. I just went ahead and did the Fly Grande since I would need to add cabin luggage and it had the flexibility of free changes/cancellation. All in at 78 EUR is not bad for a 1h flight and still 3-4x cheaper than what LH/AF wanted with a connection.
Routing
This report covers the 1h hop from Lyon to Barcelona.
Flight routing
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4VY1221 - Economy - Lyon → Barcelona - Airbus A319
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
Pre-flight
I arrived at LYS T2 at 7:15 since I had checked-in online the night before and had no bags to check. The airport was a ghost town and security was instantly cleared.
Obligatory duty free walk.
I grabbed a light breakfast from a shop and waited for the gate to be announced. As soon as it showed up, it was marked as boarding, so I started speed walking to the gate since the satellite is a long haul from the main terminal.
Reaching the under tarmac walkway.
Finally reached the gate where boarding passes and passports were checked to enter the queuing area.
Boarding
The doors were opened and it was a free for all, no attempt to board people with cabin bags first.
The first look at EC-MKV, a 2007-built A319 that was first operated by IB and then EI before joining VY in 2017.
Approaching the plane.
Always great to mill about the tarmac.
Fuselage shot where I was greeted in Spanish by the crew.
I make my way back to my exit row seat. The load factor was only ~50% on this flight and I would get the set of 3 seats to myself.
Flight
Recaro 3510 seats, which were okay for a 1h flight.
Seat pitch is of course more than adequate in the exit row.
The seat back is basic with just a small tray table.
The literature contents: airsickness bag, safety card, and BOB menu.
BOB menu overview highlighting the breakfast offerings and drinks, a sobering reminder of how expensive BOB is on US carriers.
Instructions on Wi-Fi and a reminder that there is a USB-C outlet.
The USB-A is located under the seat and is only activated in the air.
Old PSU.
A picture of the cabin as boarding completes showing the low load factor.
Hop! ERJs in new and old livery flank us.
We push back at 08:31 as the manual safety demonstration is done.
HV B738.
We quickly reach 35L and take off at 08:41 about 10 minutes late.
Punching through the cloud layer and then turning to confirm I picked the wrong side of the plane.
Wrong side of the plane since it will be the blinding sun the whole way down to BCN.
Alps in the distance, but not too much snow yet.
The Wi-Fi is activated and the home page provides flight information as well.
They charge for messaging and Wi-Fi, so I'll pass on this short flight.
No moving map, but at least you can see the altitude and ground speed.
After the duty free and BOB pass, I went back to use the lavatory that was clean, but had a broken soap dispenser so they just had 2 broken pieces of hand soap to use…
The cabin mid-flight.
Not only did I have to look at the sun, but also only had some ships to look at versus the Barcelona skyline as we dropped into BCN.
Scenic views of the port and water treatment plants.
We touched down at 09:39, ~10 minutes early on a beautiful sunny day in Barcelona.
Some siblings at remote stands.
We would be fortunate with a gate and quickly turn into our slot at T1.
Our neighbor will be the OS ERJ-195 in *A livery.
We apparently were too early and had no ground crew available so had to wait for 5 minutes before a jet bridge operator arrived.
LX A220 leaving.
VY's deplaning process is absurd since they tell everyone to sit and call people by row to deplane. After letting rows 1-4 leave, and then rows 5-10, it was finally my turn in row 11. I understand letting the paid seats at the front to deplane first, but not having 5 deplaning groups especially with a low load factor.
Heading to the exits.
Out of customs with no bag to collect and straight to the taxi line.
A taxi to Passeig de Gràcia was ~30 EUR and I was off to the hotel with the city ready for the holidays.
I'll leave of this series here as I begin my stay in Barcelona, thanks for stopping by!
Flight Information
Vueling, VY1221
Equipment: Airbus A319 [EC-MKV, delivered June 2016]
Departure: 08:30 (ATD: 08:41)
Arrival: 09:50 (ATA: 09:39)
Flight time: 0:58
VY is decent for a LCC, though they have some topics to improve a lot. Booking is a breeze with them indeed, however giving information to customers is something they often forget to do and that disembarking procedures was set up during Covid19. They just never let it go and half the time it doesn't even work as people never listen to announcements. Been flying VY like 20 times in 2024 and so far I actually saw crew enhancing this regulation maybe on three flights.
Thanks for your report. Always a pleasure to read!
Thanks for stopping by! My sample size is limited, so opinion might be skewed since they had good on-time performance (advantage of a morning flight), but USB-A charging is a nice feature missing on most LCC and legacy carriers. I can look past the ridiculous de-planning process in exchange for charging.